


The Fog

by slowdissolve



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-06 08:56:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12207981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowdissolve/pseuds/slowdissolve
Summary: In pursuit of a petty criminal, Lin goes into the Spirit World, and is imprisoned in the Fog of Lost Souls. Her greatest fear is revealed.





	1. Losing Her Way

"Damn, damn, damn!" Lin muttered, wandering between the enormous roots of wide, spreading, spirit world trees. She was lost now, certainly. That stupid triad thug had dived into the portal to evade her, and she followed. Why? Her pride? That she'd let one get away? She should have left him here, to get swallowed up by some monster.

No, not pride. Kenzo was a witness, and if she could get him to flip, she finally could bring down Mini Chin, the short-statured, earthbending leader of the New Chin gang, a little man with an enormous ego and a vicious, deadly temper. It was critically important that she take Kenzo alive, even if she had to wander the spirit world to find him.

But she herself had never been here. There were no maps yet, though Asami had mentioned her desire to come back and start surveying, after she and Korra had returned from their vacation. As if Republic City didn’t need all hands to repair itself after Kuvira’s destructive jaunt in that giant metal... _thing_. But mapping the spirit world? Asami was ambitious, but distracted by the Avatar lately. Lin rolled her eyes.

_Ah, spirits,_ she thought, and then chuckled briefly… here she was, right where the spirits lived. She wondered if they could hear her, that exclamation so common among the people of the human world, a sort of unintentional prayer to the powerful forces that reigned in this one. Until the portal had been opened, it was a separate world, rarely visited by any humans other than the Avatar. Now it was too close.

Ever since the vines had been growing in Republic City, humans had done more interacting with the spirits, and she’d seen her share, mostly when trying to rescue the humans from their own stupidity. The spirits living in the human world now were mostly small and harmless, with a few larger and a little more menacing. After the new portal opened she’d seen some that were a whole lot larger, and those were definitely not friendly.

Lin wondered what it was that Korra and Asami had seen here that made them want to come back so much. Where she was now was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. This forest was creepy. The trunks were purple, the leaves blue. That in itself was not creepy, though it was certainly unsettling. It was an environment completely unlike any she’d been in before. The glowing mushrooms she saw here and there were definitely strange, and some were quite large. One gave her the distinct feeling that it was watching her, which was absurd. Yet Lin could not shake the feeling that she was being observed, by numerous, non-human, not-entirely-friendly eyes.

She took notice of a large tree with a cavernous hole in it. Glimpsing a light inside, she wondered if Kenzo had taken refuge there. It was good to know her bending would still work in the spirit world. If Kenzo could bend some light to see in the dark, she’d still be able to capture him easily with her metal cables.

“Out, Kenzo. Don’t make me hurt you,” she called.

The light bobbed.

He’s in there, she thought. She moved quickly over the giant roots toward the tree until she reached some level ground. A metal cable swung out from the reels on the back of her uniform, and with a sharp gesture the cable shot forward into the darkness, and gripped just below the bobbing light.

There was a hard jerk on the cable that nearly toppled Lin. With horror, she saw two rows of red eyes open, and a corpulent mass suspended on eight thick legs emerged from the hole with terrifying speed. The creature had huge teeth, and an enormous tail that curved forward over its body like a scorpion’s.

The cable jerked again, and she was laid flat on her back. She made a chopping motion and cut the cable, and rolled to get away. Lin catapulted herself off the ground on a platform of earth, and landed neatly on her feet some distance away from the hideous creature.

“Humans again! Will we never have peace?” the thing screeched with a hissing voice.

Lin turned to run, but was soon enveloped in a sticky, greenish web that the beast shot at her. She screamed, but was soon dangling face to face with it.

“The Fog will be well fed, at least,” it hissed, and dragged Lin away.


	2. Missing

Asami, Korra, Mako and Bolin met every week for dinner. After so much fighting across the world the past several months, these four good friends decided that they needed to make time together, and they shared their news, laughed, and talked out their troubles. Opal sometimes joined Bolin, and occasionally Mako might introduce them to a woman he’d met, but it was always at least the four of them.

Mako and Bolin were concerned. “Nobody’s seen Chief Beifong for at least six hours,” Mako said. “Do you think she might have followed somebody into the portal?”

“I’m worried too,” Bolin added. “We captured all the rest of the New Chin gang that were there at the rumble, except for Kenzo.”

“Is Kenzo likely to have run in there?” Asami asked.

“Kenzo’s not much of a planner,” Mako replied. “It’s why Mini Chin is so tight with him. Chin tells him what to do, and Kenzo does it, no questions asked. Plus he has muscles and can firebend. But basically, Kenzo can only keep one idea in his head at a time, and it was probably getting away from Lin.”

Bolin said, “She was chasing somebody in the direction of the portal, too. The rumble was downtown in the vines, not far from the portal. They’ve been hanging out there lately and they didn’t expect us to show up. The triad gangs aren’t afraid of the spirits.”

“They aren’t very smart, then,” Korra said. “It’s pretty stupid to underestimate the spirits.”

“We should go after her,” Asami said. “It’s easy to get lost there.”

“Agreed,” Mako said. “But we’ll need help. Somebody who’s been there before… You’ll ask Tenzin?” He looked to Korra.

She was already pushing her chair away to stand and go. “Yeah. And Kya, and Bumi, and Jinora. They’ve all been there before. But we can’t let anybody go who hasn’t. It’s too risky.”

* * *

 

On Air Temple Island, Tenzin hung up the phone and rejoined his family at the table. As he relayed the information Korra had given him during the call, Kya felt a cold needle of fear travel up through her stomach. She remembered how they’d searched for Jinora in the spirit world, how they too had discovered they were lost, and that awful spider scorpion that had thrown them headlong into the fog.

Somehow she knew that’s where they’d have to look, and the idea made her tremble.

She, Tenzin and Bumi hadn’t talked much about that; she was still embarrassed, even now, that the fear which had infected her mind was that she had no family. She’d told them a half-truth, afterwards: their father, Aang, devoted time to Tenzin that he hadn’t given to her and Bumi, and then Bumi had left for the army. She traveled the world to “find herself”. Yet anyone else who said those words didn’t know the real reason she’d left Republic City.

Kya had to leave, go anywhere, as far as she could, to escape the pain of what Lin had done to her.

Lin and Kya’s parents all had a special bond, forged at the end of the Hundred Years’ War, and they were always doing things together, and bringing their families along. Kya was older; she wanted to be included with the grownups even as Bumi, Tenzin, Lin and Sokka’s children laughed and played together. And then there was Suyin, the baby. She’d felt too old to be one of the little kids, but the adults treated her as too young. 

After a few years more, however, Lin and she became close. Lin was always so serious, but she was brilliant too, and even as she came to Kya for advice as she entered her teenage years, Kya found that Lin had the answers to other things. At last she had a confidant that understood how she felt about the world and her family. 

Lin stood in her mother’s shadow. Toph Beifong had no problem telling anyone and everyone that she was the greatest earthbender in the world. It was true: she’d been the first person to ever bend metal, and she would have been a match for Avatar Kyoshi hundreds of years ago. And Toph was Chief of Police in Republic City, a very public position, with plenty of time in the spotlight.

Lin’s own earthbending prowess was incredible, but it would always be outdone by her mother’s, and Kya understood all too well what that was like. Her mother Katara was the sole waterbending master of the Southern Water Tribe, her father the Avatar and the only surviving member of the air nomads.

They grew up together. 

Kya was in her early twenties, and Lin was eighteen, and new on the police force. She and Kya were in her room at Toph’s house. Lin was so proud, that first day, wearing her uniform, showing off. Her smile was so fresh and bright that Kya felt the urge to kiss Lin sweep over her like a vast wave. But she didn’t. She’d wanted to, but she didn’t. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t risk ruining the friendship they had. That should be enough. It couldn’t be possible that Lin felt this way too. Lin was simply her best friend, and that had to be enough.

“We’re meeting at the portal in an hour. Kya? Are you listening?" Tenzin was looking straight at her.

Kya started with surprise, but she recovered quickly. “I’m ready right now.” She rose. “What are we waiting for?”


	3. Remembering

Kya had suggested to Lin that she join the police herself, but Lin was hesitant. Only metalbenders were on the elite forces. They’d never be partners. And the work was dangerous, she insisted. Be a healer, she’d said. That’s important work too. And you’ll be the best. You’d be so happy as a healer, she’d said. 

Kya set to work becoming the best healer she could. Katara, delighted with her daughter’s renewed interest, helped her master the knowledge that would make her as skilled as herself.

Adults now, work filled their days. The hours they they used to spend together dwindled to minutes. Toph didn’t show favorites: Lin was assigned weekends and nights. They had to plan when they’d see each other.

When they did, it was like they’d never been apart, and they took up right where they left off. It was growing harder and harder for Kya to maintain her composure; she was in love with Lin. And as far as she could tell, Lin seemed to care about her too, always excited to see her, asking about her day, her week, listening the way no one else ever did.

But then there was that time that Kya waited all night to meet her for breakfast. Lin limped into the café, bruised and scratched. It was nothing, she said. A brawl she broke up, nothing terrible. But Lin’s cheek was dark and her lip had been split, and it was badly swollen. Kya reached out and touched her face, gingerly, and with a deft hand applied a healing orb of water to the wounds. As Lin’s eyes closed and her face softened with relief, Kya could have sworn she pressed her cheek to Kya’s hand, and kissed her thumb as she was being healed.

She could hardly believe it, and had they been alone, such a moment would have been the time for Kya to tell Lin how she felt about her. But they were in a café, people all around, and the moment passed. Lin stiffened and scowled. She grumbled about Kya making a fuss. Police work is dangerous, she said. 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/137684545@N02/27699423409/in/album-72157662297759337/)

* * *

“Remember, now, we’ll meet back here in two hours. Leave markers so you don’t get lost,” Tenzin announced. Kya squared her shoulders. She knew where she was going, and she knew how to rescue Lin.

The searchers paired off: Tenzin and Bumi, Korra and Asami, Kya and Jinora. Mako and Bolin had been in the spirit world before, but only just inside the portals. They hadn’t explored it the way the others had, so they agreed to wait at the portal, in case they needed to assist someone on the way out.    
  
The teams decided on specific destinations to search, and the portal itself would be the first rendezvous point. She trembled as she volunteered to go into the Fog.

“It feeds on your greatest fear. Face that fear, and the fog will dissipate long enough for you to find your way. But don’t search too long there. It is a very powerful spirit.”

“I remember it, Tenzin,” Kya said resolutely. She squeezed Jinora’s hand. Kya’s niece gripped back. The young girl was already so wise and spiritually centered, it was hard to imagine she had anything to fear. Jinora might well be the best companion for anyone in that prison of the souls, and Kya was grateful for her presence. 


	4. Fighting Fear

The spider-scorpion was gone. Lin had landed hard on stony ground, and it took some time to get her breath back. She ached where she’d hit, her shoulder and hip bruised. It was a wonder she was still alive at all… it was a long drop.

But where was this? All around her was mist. She heard voices, distantly. There were others here?

That Kenzo was in for a rough questioning, once she laid hands on him. She rose stiffly, and stood for a moment. There was no way to get one’s bearings here. She called out, “Kenzo!” and was startled how muffled her own voice sounded to her. 

Anxiety filled her. It might be possible to find Kenzo here, but how would they find their way out again? And how then to find their way out of the spirit world? This was a dangerous place. Damned triads! All her life they’d been making things hard for everyone, making Republic City unsafe for good people. 

Ever since she first started on the police force, she thought. Ever since then, they’d been threatening everyone in the city. Everyone she cared about. Her mother, Suyin, Sokka’s family, Aang’s family.

Kya.

The anxiety deepened. If she couldn’t find Kenzo and get out, she couldn’t protect her. Kya was back in Republic City after all these years. It would be just like before. Lin couldn’t bear that again.

She had to find Kenzo. She had to get out. She had to protect Kya. She’d failed to keep her safe the last time. 

Fear welled up inside her.

* * *

“Are you going to be okay, Aunt Kya?” Jinora asked.

“Yes, sweetie. I think so. Last time I was here, looking for you, I felt like I had no family. But since then, I’ve seen you kids grow so much, Rohan was born, and with Korra and her friends, and all the new airbenders, it feels like I have more family than ever.”

“I was afraid I’d never get to be a master airbender,” Jinora said. “I guess that was a silly thing to be afraid of.”

“Hardly! It’s hard work to become a master. Your dad has very high standards. But you’ve made all of us so proud.”

“Thanks, Aunt Kya.”

“And anyway,” Kya continued, “just because it seems silly now, your fear was very real then, wasn’t it?”

Jinora considered this a moment. “You’re right. I guess we should be more understanding when people are afraid.”

Kya looked at her niece, amazed. “You are the wisest young woman… no… one of the wisest  _ people _ I know.” 

Jinora pointed. “There it is!”

Before them lay a valley surrounded by sharp, hooked outcrops of stone. The valley was filled with a thick cloud.

They climbed carefully to the edge, and looked down. There was no way to gauge how deep it was, but they remembered that they had fallen and landed hard. Jinora took Kya’s hand, and on the count of three they leapt into the mist.

Swathed in swirling air, they floated downward, and landed gently. Jinora was indeed a master airbender now.

“Lin?” Kya called out into the fog. The sound was flat and muffled. “Lin! Lin Beifong!”

“Chief! Chief Beifong!” Jinora yelled.

They heard voices, seemingly distant.

“How do we start searching?” Kya wondered.

“This place is so, so sad,” Jinora replied, in a small voice. “Can you feel it?”

“Yes,” Kya admitted. “Now that I know what this place is, it’s almost overwhelming. All these lost souls… all that fear.” She began to feel her chest tighten.   
  
“Remember, it can’t feed on your fears if you face them.”

“That’s right, sweetheart. Thank you for reminding me.”

They wandered through the fog for a while, hand in hand. They might well have been walking in circles, for all they could see, though voices came and went, sometimes shouting, sometimes fearful. They could see the outlines of bodies in the mist. None was familiar.

“Maybe we should sit and meditate,” Jinora suggested. “And see if we can detect Lin’s energy.”

Kya was anxious. It was painfully difficult to stay focused. Jinora was her anchor in reality, but she was struggling with the Fog’s effect on her mind. What if they couldn’t find her? Would she be lost forever?   
  
Jinora shook her arm. “Kya! Aunt Kya!” she said, loudly.

“Jinora! We can’t stay much longer. I feel the fear growing. I can’t fight it forever.”

“One more try. Let’s sit and focus our minds on Lin. Take both my hands.” They sat down, facing each other. They bent forward and touched their foreheads together.

Kya concentrated on Lin, remembering her as a young woman, the woman she loved. She sought outward with her mind, reaching through the mists. 

“Behind you,” Jinora said quietly.   
  
Kya turned, and Lin was suddenly there, blind to them. She was sobbing openly, her face wet with tears. Kya leapt to her feet and embraced her.

“Katara!” Lin cried. “Oh, Katara! Tell me she’s okay!”

“Lin, Lin, it’s me!” Kya replied, baffled. “It’s me, Kya!”

“Is she okay? Is Kya still alive?” Lin sobbed. “She has to live! What will I do if I lose her?”

Kya was startled. This was the last thing she expected to hear.

Jinora yanked her sleeve. “We have to get out of here, Kya. We have to go.”

Kya nodded, and gripped Lin’s elbow, and put her other arm around her waist, to guide  her. Jinora created a whirlwind and cleared the mists around them, several paces across. They moved forward through the space she cleared, again and again, until they came to the wall of the valley.

Asami spotted them. Their friends had come to the edge of the valley. Kya and Jinora had missed their rendezvous time, so the rest of the search party came to find them here.

Korra stamped her foot, and a ramp of stone emerged from the ground where they stood. Kya and Jinora slung Lin’s arms across their shoulders and walked her up, until Bumi was able to reach them and carried her now limp body up to safety.

Tenzin took his daughter and sister into his arms.

“You’re safe! You found her!”

“Oh, Tenzin! Jinora saved us both!” Kya said, her own tears starting to flow. The anxiety was still there, and she was deeply confused by what Lin had said to her. But the relief of having come out of the fog was like a valve opening, and she began to weep, falling to her knees.

Korra and Asami came to comfort her, surrounding her in a hug. All of them came together and held each other. Kya’s family.


	5. The Turning Point

It had been weeks since they’d last met. Lin always seemed to be busy; mostly work, but other things kept coming up. Kya was frustrated, but tried to be understanding. Lin wanted to rise in the ranks, and to do that she had to be dedicated to her job. Of course Kya wasn’t going to hold her back.

But tonight she would get to see her best friend. Tonight, maybe, she’d have the courage to tell her how she felt.

They were going to go see a play. Excited and nervous, Kya stood in the snow outside the theater, waiting. Lin promised she wouldn’t be late, but the curtain was going to go up soon. She looked up and down the street, wondering which way she’d come from. Kya pictured her turning the corner, seeing her, waving, smiling. She thought of her jet-black hair, curls just so, those piercing eyes, the soft, shy smile.

An ostrich-horse carriage pulled up to the curb in front of her. She was still peering down the sidewalk through a fresh shower of snowflakes when she felt hard, strong hands on her shoulders and around her mouth, and in seconds she was pulled into the carriage. It took off, fast.

* * *

Lin rounded the corner, eager to see Kya. She’d won the promotion, no longer just a beat cop, but a detective. She’d arrested a petty thug and convinced him to rat on his boss. She was floating, excited to tell her best friend about this new adventure in her career.

She would have liked to tell her much more… how she felt about Kya. She was afraid of nothing in the world, but that? That was the hardest thing. What if Kya rejected her? It would be better to have all her bones broken instead of her heart.

Something strange was happening in front of the theater. Burly men were shoving someone into a carriage, but before she could even break into a run they were off, gone down the street and around another corner. She jogged up to the theater doors; maybe someone standing there had seen who it was.

Kya wasn't there.

Flashing her new badge, she asked several bystanders what they’d seen. Nothing, mostly, but a few said a woman in a water tribe parka had been standing there, like she was waiting for someone, and then she was gone.

Lin knew it was Kya.

* * *

Mako and Bolin met them just inside the portal. A scruffy, thick fellow was embedded in a block of earth near them. Tired and hungry, Kenzo had managed to wander himself out of being lost, and when he’d spotted the portal he dived through it, only to be met by the brothers.

They were relieved to see the Chief, but concerned that she was still unconscious.

“Is that normal?” Bolin asked. “Why’s she knocked out like that?”

“There is no normal for people leaving the Fog of Lost Souls,” Tenzin said, gravely. “So few have escaped that we know almost nothing of its effects. I suspect that there was something she feared very deeply for it to affect her this way, something she’s kept inside a long time.”

Kya bit her lip, hearing this. _What will I do if I lose her?_ Lin had said. _She meant me. She was afraid of losing me._


	6. The Warehouse

When she woke, she was tied to a chair in a warehouse. It was cold and dark, but through the tall, many-paned windows she could see the low clouds and the snow in the light from the street lamps. They’d drugged her in the carriage, a cloth with a smelly chemical over her nose and mouth. She was quite alone.

“Who’s got me here?” Kya yelled. “Come on out and fight me fair!”

Her voice echoed into the darkness.

She wondered why she’d been taken. She hoped Lin would understand that she’d never stand her up like that. She hoped Lin was searching for her now.

“Help! Anybody!”

Nothing.

“Anybody?”

* * *

“You’ve got to expect this kind of thing,” Chief Beifong said. Lin’s mother Toph paced up and down her office.

“I’m supposed to expect someone to kidnap my friends?”

“You let anybody get close to you, they’re always going to be a target. You’ve always been a target. So has Suyin.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Lin asked, angrily. “Put her under surveillance?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Toph huffed. 

“You didn’t keep much of an eye on  _ us _ , anyway.”

“I always know where you are, all the time. That’s why I taught you to bend metal so early. So you’d be able to defend yourself if I wasn’t right there.”

“Kya’s a good waterbender! Nobody’s able to see everything! What if somebody came up on her from behind?”

“I can. Stop depending on your eyes for everything. What did I teach you?”

Lin scowled as deeply as her mother. 

“Who’s got something against you? That’s your first question.” Toph demanded.

“Everybody I ever arrested.”

“Think! Who’s got enough muscle working for him to kidnap somebody?”

“That triad boss. The one who got flipped on by the short guy I arrested.”

“Find out what he properties he owns. The little guy still in jail? Ask him first.”

Lin almost laughed. Her mother was shorter than almost everyone on the police force.

“Did they send a note? Do they want a ransom?”

“No, nothing.”

“Then you better be careful. It’s probably a trap, to get back at you, or get you out of the way. Use all the ways of seeing I taught you, and not just your eyes. Don’t let them see  _ you _ coming.”

* * *

 

They took Lin back to Air Temple Island. She had awakened and sputtered nonsense a few times, and seemed to fight someone in her mind, before breaking down sobbing and losing consciousness again. Tenzin was even more sober-looking than usual, his face long and drawn. Korra and Asami came with them. 

Jinora had been silent since they’d left the fog. She stayed near her aunt, ready to comfort her; she’d heard what Lin had said. 

They took her to a bathing pool inside the Air Temple, and lay her in it. Kya went through healing forms, and the water emitted its mysterious blue light as the qi flowed from her and through Lin, healing what it could. 

The tortured expression faded from Lin’s face, but she didn’t wake. Korra and Kya lifted her on a layer of water from the bath, gently, and Bumi carried her to one of the many rooms of the Temple, and lay her down to sleep. 

“I’ll stay here… just in case,” Kya said. Tenzin and Jinora left, and Bumi followed.

Korra and Asami lingered a moment, after looking at each other. 

“Is there anything we can do for you?” Asami asked.

Kya didn’t take her eyes off Lin as she answered, “Be hopeful.”

* * *

 

The little guy in jail, Chin, was irritated. “I played your game. You told me that if I talked, they’d take it easy on me! Three years? You think three years is easy? In here? I’ll be lucky if I last another month!”

“I just need to know where your boss might stash somebody.”

“Your somebody can rot. Just like you’re letting me do here.”

“I don’t know what I can get. What do you want?”

“Out of here. Anywhere else. Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, whatever. The boss has got a ticket on me. I don’t need it punched.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Your word on it?”

“I’ll see what I can do. I can’t promise more.”

“Try the warehouses closest to the waterfront. That’s all  _ I _ can do.”

Lin sighed, frustrated. There were at least a dozen there, all enormous. But it was a start. And now she had to work a deal that she was pretty sure wasn’t going to go down.

* * *

Daylight came. Kya had dozed, tied to the chair, but now she ached from sitting so long, and had to use a bathroom. She was scared. Where was anybody? Why was she just left here? Who was looking for her?

When it was full day, someone finally showed up. A muscle-bound man carried a metal bottle with a tight cap, and poured out a shot glass of water, not enough for even a skilled waterbender to do much damage.

She drank, gratefully, and racked her brain to plan an escape. 

“I gotta go!”

“Yeah, right. You’re stayin’ right there. Boss said not to let you go anywhere.”

“Not that kind of go, you dummy. I mean.. I gotta  _ GO _ .”

Mr. Muscles looked sheepish, but then worried. “I don’t know…”

“I mean, I guess I could go here…”

“No, no no no no!” He went behind her and loosened the rope that trapped her on the chair. He kept one meaty paw on her shoulder, to keep her from running, and when she rose, stiffly, he bound her hands behind her.

They proceeded through the warehouse and into a hallway on the length of it, with offices. He led her to a room, pushed open the door, and gestured for her to go in.

“How am I supposed to do this with no hands?” she asked.

“Uhhh….” 

Clearly he had little grasp of female anatomy.

“Listen, you just wait here by the door. I can’t get out any other way but through here.”

The burly man untied her hands and stood, crossed arms, in front of the door. “Don’t take forever,” he said, somewhat uncertainly.

She heard the door shut behind her, and she dashed to the toilet. After she was finished, she flushed, went to the sink to wash her hands, and let the water run, pooling in the sink. 

“What’s going on in there? I said don’t take forever!” her captor called, after a couple of minutes.

Kya crashed down the door with a great mass of ice that she hurled with all her might. She sprang over the door, stepping on it once, causing him to “oof” under her feet, but she didn’t stay to hear any more, and dashed down the long hallway. 

The noise of the door brought out other men from other parts of the warehouse, and soon she was trapped on all sides. She dropped into form and reached out with her qi toward the giant ice ball she’d thrown, melting it and pulling it toward her in a ball.

It splashed into the men between her and the water, and they fell forward. Two behind her blasted fire at her, but she dropped low, and spun around on her hand, kicking their legs out from under them. 

Again, leaping over their bodies, she kept moving forward, hoping to catch a door to the outside.

Now there were more of them. There was a door down the hall just a few more steps. She yanked on it.

It was locked, and she was trapped again. One landed a giant fist against her temple. She was down for the count.

* * *

 

Seven warehouses of the dozen closest to the waterfront were clean. She’d asked to examine them, and was admitted without a hitch.

In the eighth, however, the business office was empty. She called around, looking for someone to ask permission to search. Something felt off.   
  
Lin crossed to an open space in the middle of the warehouse floor. Looking around briefly, she closed her eyes, and stomped a foot solidly. The seismic waves passed out from her and back, and she sensed the presence of several men positioned around the building. 

She dropped into a defensive posture, and readied herself. From the left a blast of fire came toward her. She shot upward with the metal cables from the reels on her back, and pulled herself up out of the way. Swinging herself in a wide loop, she snagged the firebender with the clamp at the end of the cable, and pulled him up off the floor. He was too surprised to react, and at the end of her swing she smacked him into the next guy, who was bowled over.

She released the cable on the ceiling, and shot it outward at another man charging at her, armed with a wooden club. The club was yanked out of his hand and he was pulled forward, stumbling. She swirled the cable even as she landed lightly on her feet, and looped it around his legs. He was down. 

Lin sensed the pounding feet of one behind her, and propelled herself upward, launching herself with stone pillars shot up from the floor. He rolled and pitched boulder-sized pieces of concrete at her, but she burst them into a shower of gravel that she turned around and sent down as hail on him. Then she landed lightly again, this time atop a stack of large wooden boxes.

Another shook the stack, trying to unbalance her. Again, she shot out with the cable, up to the ceiling, and pulled herself away. A pair of iron cuffs came off her belt, and she flung them down, capturing one of his wrists, and she flicked her own wrist to move it over and snag his other wrist in the other cuff. She swung and dropped over low enough to kick him in the head, and he sprawled on the ground.

Another firebender aimed a stream of fire up at her, so she released the cable as she swung in an arc toward him. He turned his aim to follow her curve, but not before the sole of her foot hit him square in the chest. He was down, and she cuffed him too.

Finally, backup arrived, and other officers engaged the remaining thugs in a battle, some with bending, others with weapons. Lin began searching for Kya among the cartons and kegs in the warehouse.

The gang member who had felt her hail of stones caught up with her. She hadn’t incapacitated him. Under her feet a mass of smooth round pebbles appeared, and she slipped, rolling some distance. He was gaining on her.

She flipped onto her stomach, and sank directly into the stone floor, only to emerge moments later completely encased in a suit of stone armor. The earthbender on her heels stumbled backwards, surprised. He soon recovered, however, and heaved three large rocks in her direction. She whipped them around as they approached her, and he was forced to dive for cover. 

Dropping the armor, she dashed onward, still searching for Kya. Down a few more rows, against the wall, and off to her right, there she was, tied up. Lin launched herself again, and landed a short distance from the chair where Kya was bound.

She heard an angry yell, and looked over to her left. The earthbender, his face full of rage, was still in pursuit. He floated a pile of small, loose stones in front of him, and suddenly flung them with terrible speed at Lin. 

She threw her forearms upward, raising a protective shield from the floor, but one of the stones caromed off the side of it and struck Kya, embedding itself between the ribs, just below her left breast. 

Kya screamed in pain, and the side of her parka was suddenly soaked in a slick dark circle of blood.

The world seemed to slow to a crawl. Lin turned her eyes from Kya back to the man who’d hurt her, and her vision turned red with fury. She made a sharp pushing motion, and the short wall that had protected her turned into a massive projectile, thrown with such awful force that the attacker was knocked backwards, and lay unmoving.

* * *

Lin’s sleep was fitful. Kya watched her as she slept.

The beautiful young woman she’d known was older now, but even more beautiful, in a way, sculpted by experience, by work and worry. All those years that they’d missed together, and for what? Why had Lin been so cruel?

She listened to Lin mumble as her mind worked through the effects of the spirit fog. “I couldn’t save her,” she said, several times. She was talking about the warehouse. 

Kya remembered it, and that was certainly a close call.  _ But that was really the turning point, wasn’t it? _ she thought.  _ When Lin turned on me. _

“I couldn’t live if she dies,” Lin whispered to the darkness. Kya’s heart ached. Back then, Kya had felt the same way. She felt it now. So Lin had loved her then. And now?

Just before dawn Lin sobbed, “To love her I have to let her go.”

Kya bolted upright. What did that mean?


	7. Paved With Good Intentions

The wound was deep, and Lin applied pressure to it, but Kya had already passed out. She called out to the other officers there. Two ran over to assist. 

It seemed to take an eternity to get a stretcher and a carriage to get her to a hospital. Lin would not move from her side. Her hands were soaked red with Kya’s blood.

They rushed her to the nearest doctor, who took over for Lin, applying pressure to the wound. He waterbent a shield of ice over the area, slowing the flow of blood. Kya was mercifully unconscious. With the flesh very cold, he was able to retrieve the sharp-edged stone and sew up the wound, but worried that Kya had lost so much blood. Katara must be brought in from the Island to heal her as soon as possible.

It took so long to get a messenger out to the island, and for Aang and Katara to fly on a sky bison back into the city, that Lin was certain Kya would die. Avatar Aang took Lin in his arms and held her as Katara went into the room to see her daughter. Lin wept bitterly, silently blaming herself for not finding Kya soon enough, for not taking out the earthbender right away. She blamed herself for making Kya a target of the triads, simply by being her friend. She couldn’t allow that. If Lin loved her, she had to keep her safe, and the best way to do that was to let her go.

Katara came out of the room. Lin pleaded with her, begging her to say that Kya would live. Oh, yes, she’d live. If it hadn’t been for Lin’s quick thinking, and her persistence in holding the wound shut, Kya would have died. Lin had saved her, she said.

But Lin could not absorb this. This was entirely her fault. It was because of her that she was injured in the first place.

Lin left Katara and Aang with their daughter, determined to forget Kya, for her own safety.

* * *

Kya recovered under her mother’s care, out on Air temple Island, but a high fever slowed her progress, and she was kept to her bed for a few weeks. 

Lin did not visit. 

Kya missed her best friend terribly, and didn't understand why she stayed away. If their roles were reversed, she thought, there was nothing that would have kept her from Lin’s side. The days were long and dull. She woke each morning with fresh hope that today Lin would come, but the hope faded as the sun crossed the sky, and by evening she was so low that she sometimes wept in her room.

Eventually, it became too much to bear, and she asked her mother where Lin was. Was she too busy to come see her? Katara told her that Lin had been terrified to lose her, but wondered if Lin might blame herself for the injury, and it was possible she was afraid that Kya would resent her for it. Write her a letter, she suggested. Tell her how you feel, she said.

Kya did, but it took many hours to choose the right words. She hadn’t yet told Lin how she really felt about her, how much she loved and missed her. Yet that was just what she kept doing in her letter. She wanted to reassure her that she was fine, not complain about her injury too much, lest she make Lin feel worse. Lin had saved her, and she needed to know it, but each time Kya wrote the words of gratitude, they spilled out into a confession of need.

And then, trying to tell her how Lin’s absence was more painful than the injury? This was nearly impossible. It would sound like an accusation no matter how she wrote it. But it was true.

In the end, Kya decided that there was little to lose by being honest. She told Lin in the letter that her feelings for her were deep, that being without her now was difficult, that she wanted to see her again soon. She told Lin that she wouldn’t be alive without her, that she would have done the same for her, and wanted to be near her always.

She reread the letter a hundred times before sealing it, and she let go of the envelope into her father’s hand only by closing her eyes and holding her breath. The letter was a leap of faith.

* * *

The letter went into a desk drawer. When she saw Kya’s handwriting, she felt the sharp ache in her chest; surely this was how the wound felt when the stone had hit Kya. 

She wanted to forget everything she knew. She had to find a way to start over, recreate her life without Kya in it. Only that way would she be sure that no one would ever target Kya again. She signed up for overnight duty, for weeks into the future. She wanted to bury herself in work; she would teach these gangsters that they were going to pay for hurting people.

And this worked, well enough, for a while. There was always work to do, and always papers to fill out. When she wasn’t investigating this or that crime, she was training, working out in the gym, pushing herself to be faster and stronger. She’d failed to stop all the thug’s stones. That kind of thing wasn’t going to happen again, to her or anyone. 

The letter burned in her mind, but she was resolved not to read it.  _ To love her I have to let her go, _ she said to herself, again and again. As the days stretched into weeks, the pain dulled. Lin missed Kya, but found a kind of balance in work, believing what she was doing was for the best. She loved Kya, and she had let her go.

The weeks stretched into months. Suyin was getting into trouble, and it was a distraction from the dull ache she felt each day. The day came when Suyin, mixed up with the wrong crowd, found herself in a confrontation with Lin, and a metal cable left scars on Lin’s face that she would never lose. Toph’s solution, to drop the charges and send Suyin away, made Lin bitter and angry; once again the thugs had hurt her and her family, this time from the inside. This damage was deep. 

The letter went unread.

* * *

Springtime came, and Kya was well again. When the letter she’d sent went without response a second week, her heart broke, and she told her mother what she’d written. Aang and Katara consoled their daughter. They loved her completely just as she was, and there would be other women she would find to be friends with, to love. The world is a big place, they said, and they knew this because they’d traveled it together. 

Kya wondered if that was what she should do. Maybe it would be good to go and be on her own for a while, and see the world. Maybe there was someone who could fill the hole in her heart. 

But she couldn’t give up, not yet.

Kya went into Republic City. She wanted to see Lin, one more time, before she left. She wanted to know why, why Lin wouldn’t speak to her any more, why she’d never responded to the letter. 

Lin was on duty, so the desk sergeant at the police station sent a note back that she had someone to see her. When Lin saw Kya waiting, she nearly lost all her resolve. Though months had passed now, and she had committed herself to staying away, her breath caught at the sight of her. Lin had memorized her face, of course, but seeing it again, right there in front of her, she was shocked by how beautiful this woman was. Her long, flowing chestnut hair, the shape of her, her face so dear. A hundred joyful memories bubbled into her mind; and then that last, dark one.

But now, that face was pained, and Lin knew the reason. She’d dreaded this moment.

Rather than risk a scene, she took Kya back to an empty office.

Kya asked, then, why Lin was being so cold. What had she done? Why did she not come visit her while she was recovering? Why did she not answer the letter? What was wrong?

Things change, she said. She was a detective now; this was important, dangerous work. She needed to focus on it.

Kya’s eyes were brimming with tears, and they spilled when she asked, “Don’t you care? Aren’t we still best friends?”

Lin steeled herself, looked Kya in the eye, and said, “Find a new friend. I don’t have time.” It was the first time she’d ever lied to Kya, and it felt like her mouth was filled with ash as she said it.

Kya, angry now, told her she was doing just that, leaving. Going away, around the world. She’d make a hundred new friends, better ones. Maybe she’d go visit Izumi, Zuko’s daughter. She was important and powerful too, but maybe she’d be more considerate.

As Kya left the office, and slammed the door behind her, Lin watched her through the office windows, her eyes following Kya’s form until she could no longer see her. Then she went out, back behind the building, and wept until there were no more tears she could shed.


	8. Past, Present, Future

The sun was rising. Lin was sleeping more peacefully now, her breath even, her face calm. Kya watched her as the rays broke over the mountains on the mainland, the reddish-gold light touching a spot on her arm. 

She understood it now.  _ To love her I have to let her go. _ After Kya was hurt in the warehouse, coming so close to death, that was how Lin was trying to love her. How many times had she said, “Police work is dangerous”? And she figured it out, eventually, that she’d meant not just for herself, but for Kya too.

She’d wondered why Lin had grown cold for years, even as she traveled the world. After the police station, that last time, Kya did indeed go to the Fire Nation. She went with her parents, encouraging them to visit Fire Lord Zuko, but she intended to get to know Izumi better. They’d met before, from time to time, on vacations to Ember Island.

Kya and Izumi enjoyed time together. They became good friends, but she seemed to realize that Kya was suffering a loss Izumi was not ready to replace. She didn’t confide in Kya the way that Lin had, and she was often away, preparing to take her place as the next Fire Lord, learning statecraft from her father. Still, her father had taught her compassion, as Aang had showed to him. She was gentle when she told Kya that they could be friends, but no more.

After that, Kya was adrift. She parted ways from her parents, and visited the cities of the world, the Northern Water Tribe capital, Ba Sing Se, Gaoling, Omashu, and finally the Southern Water Tribe homeland. She made friends; they were a distraction at first, to keep her from dwelling on Lin, but eventually her own sweet and happy nature reemerged, and she learned to take people on their own terms, as they did for her. She sought out teachers, of meditation and healing, learning things even her mother had not taught her. She learned the medicines of herbs and berries, massage and how to read auras.

After several years, she’d come to realize that Lin had done her a favor, in a way, pushing her out into a world larger than the one she knew. She fell in love a few more times, with many different women, low-born and high-born, and learned the give and take of pleasure, every encounter a new lesson in how to be a better lover, a better person.

Now the morning sunlight was creeping along the bed, nearly touching Lin’s face. She stirred. 

Kya, though very tired, could not take her eyes off Lin. She sensed that Lin was at last free from the effects of the Fog, and would soon wake, and she wanted to see her at that moment. Since she’d been back in Republic City, Lin and she had not talked; at first, they were each far too busy, but then, it seemed awkward, and difficult to seek her out.

This minute, then, as the light fell on Lin’s face, and her eyes began to open, Kya wanted to see. She might have had this vision of Lin waking every day since the beginning, if she’d only told her how she felt early on. But what would she have missed?

Lin’s eyes fluttered as the bright light brought her to consciousness. She squinted and peered out, shading her eyes with a hand.

She saw Kya, there at her bedside, smiling. She sat up, reached out, and pulled Kya to her in a tight embrace.

“I can’t believe it. You’re here.”

“I am.”

“You’re alive.”

“Have been, for quite a while now.”

Lin closed her eyes tight, trying to understand where she was, and why. She began to cry, horrible racking sobs, burying her face in Kya’s shoulder. The anguish of decades of separation rolled through her like a flood.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she wept. “I should never have abandoned you like that. I wanted to protect you, to keep you from all the evil out to get me.” 

Kya held her tight.

Lin wailed a wordless, painful cry, as all her buried sadness came to the surface. They rocked together, as Lin shook, recalling the suffering she’d caused them both, remembering it clearly this time, without the confusion of the Fog.

Kya comforted her, stroking her hair, murmuring, kissing her gently on the top of her head.

Eventually the storm inside Lin passed, and she calmed down. She seemed to realize the position she was in, and pulled away, lying back down in the bed.

“I’m sorry,” she said again, looking away. “I don’t know what else to say.”

“You were in the Fog of Lost Souls,” Kya told her. “Tenzin says it’s a spirit that traps humans and feeds off their darkest fears.”

Lin’s face pinched with the memories.

“Your darkest fear was losing me. You kept remembering me being hurt in that warehouse. And you...decided… the best way to keep me safe…”

“...was to let you go.”

Kya frowned. “That hurt more than the stone ever did.”

Lin began to weep again, this time slow tears rolling down her cheeks.

“But…” Kya moved up the bed slightly, “I understand.”

Lin lay there, her eyes closed. “You do?”

“You did it because you wanted to protect me.”

“I’m sorry. Yes, I did. But I’m so sorry.”

“You loved me.”

“...with all my heart.”

“You gave up the chance to be happy…”

“...so that you would be safe.”

Kya now reached over, and cupped Lin’s face tenderly in her hands. Lin’s eyes opened, and they locked with Kya’s bright blue eyes.

“I wouldn’t be who I am today without you,” Kya said. “and I’m here now...”

She bent and kissed Lin, softly, slowly. “...and I still love you.”

* * *

 

“I’m curious, Lin... Do you still have that letter?” Kya asked. 

She and Lin stood in line outside the theater. A new production was opening tonight, and this time they’d met early for dinner. It was a wonderful meal, with good news… Mini Chin was on his way back to jail. Kenzo had flipped like a fish out of water.   
  
“I do. But I never read it. Should I?”

Kya looked at her and smiled. Lin was earnest, and her expression made Kya bend to kiss her once again. 

“No, you don’t have to. Everything I wanted then I don’t have to worry about anymore.”

* * *

 

In the darkest part of the night, Lin woke suddenly, disoriented. She looked around and recognized her own bedroom, her own bed. And Kya. She was there, next to her, sleeping. Lin leaned over and looked at her face, and could hardly believe it. She had the chance now to be happy. She loved her as much as ever. More, even. But now, she knew, the best way to protect her was to keep her close.

Lin bent and put her lips to Kya’s cheek. Kya shifted and mumbled, and slept on. Lin closed her eyes, and it was bright daylight before she woke again, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bones of this story were a gift to me from @watercaressesearth. I put on the flesh, and now it lives. XD


End file.
